QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2021 crashes at startup

Which Windows OS do you run?

I understand the urgency of getting this issue fixed, @yfegade.I also appreciate you for providing all this information about your concern. I'm here to help you directly to our support team. 

Since you already tried all the possible basic troubleshooting processes that might help fix the issue. However, you still get the same error. I'd suggest reaching out to our Technical Support Team. To ensure the protection of your critical data, they have the tools to securely look into your account and investigate further this issue you're facing.

Here's how:
 

1. Click Help at the top menu bar, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. Select Contact us and then enter that you get Reminder prompts and Continue.
3. Then choose either to Message an Agent or Talk to a Specialist.
    

Please check out this article for QuickBooks support hours: Contact QuickBooks Desktop Support.
 

Additionally, you can visit this article in case you'll share your screen when you're on a support call: Use SmartLook to share your screen with support agents.
 

Feel free to let me know if you have further questions with managing your QuickBooks Desktop account. I'm always ready to help. Take care.

I am using Windows-10 Pro

I am getting similar errors when trying to Log in.

There is an error Dialog that pops up on Login.  If I close the Dialog QB closes.

But If the Dialog Stays open QB works normally.

I have 8 installations (Win 10)  and only 3 of these have the problem. ( Just added one today after we upgraded him to 16G RAM)

Reinstalling had no effect.

Type of user permissions no effect.

This is a problem because I cannot login to manage the Backups.

I appreciate you for laying out the details of your issue with us, @meder.

Can you share with us the error message you received on your end? This way, I look into it and provide you with the best fix.

Any additional information is much appreciated.

I'll be here keeping an eye on your response. Keep safe!

Jasro,

Yes, here are the Events from EventViewer:  ( if you need a screen shot of the Dialog let me know)

On another note.

The affected systems are Dell 5060 with  16G ram

The unaffected systems have 8G ram.

I upgraded my 8G system to 16G.

Ran Quickbooks, No Error Dialog, but the Event Viewer showed similar errors.

Removed the 16G upgrade, restored the 8G ram.

Ran Quickbooks, And the Event Viewer showed no Errors.

This should help figure things out.

Hello there, @meder.

The NET Framework 4.0 SP 1 issue is the most obvious cause of QuickBooks event logs error 4, which appears to be a.net framework issue.

The following list includes some other variables that could result in the error:

• Potential corruption or damage to the QuickBooks corporate file
• Due to a virus or malware attack that is malevolent, an infection results.
• incomplete or damaged installations of the QuickBooks program
• Potential Windows registry error
• Unintentionally deleting a crucial QuickBooks-related file by a background-running program

For additional information, see this article I came across: Here's How to Fix QuickBooks Event id 4 Error in Windows.

I'd advise checking your.net framework by going through these procedures:  How to: Determine which .NET Framework versions are installed.

You might also try installing QuickBooks from scratch. Clean install QuickBooks Desktop. 

I want to make sure you're good to go. Please let me know in the comment section below on how those things work for you. I'm just around if you need my further assistance. Take care and stay safe, meder.

Since I cannot do major experiments on my development system or our server that is hosting the Quickbooks company file,  I am going to do a clean install on a new Dell 3090 with 16G memory.

I will let you know the outcome when that is completed.

Fresh OS install Windows 10 21H1

After installing R4_31 and upgrading to R10_25.  I still get the Nudge.. errors.  But with out the Error Dialog popup.

This even happens with a different  and smaller company file.

Even the systems with 8G memory get the errors , but they do not get the error dialog popup.

This is a bad update, There were no errors before 6/13/22 R10_25 update.

Hello, @meder.

I understand your frustration concerning the error you encountered while accessing your QuickBooks Desktop Account. I'm here to help you fix this issue. 

I recommend updating your QuickBooks Desktop account to keep your software up-to-date to ensure you have the most recent features and repairs.

When you enable Automatic Updates, QuickBooks downloads and installs the most recent updates as soon as they become available. If you decide to do your updates, follow these steps below:

First, download and install QuickBooks Desktop. Next,

1. Close your QuickBooks and company files.
2. Navigate to the Windows Start menu.
3. Look up QuickBooks Desktop. Run as administrator by right-clicking the icon.
4. Go to the Help menu and select Update QuickBooks Desktop while on the No Company Open screen.
5. Navigate to the Options menu. Select Mark All, followed by Save.
6. Select the Reset Update checkbox on the Update Now tab.
7. When you're finished, click Get Updates.
8. Close and reopen QuickBooks Desktop after the update is complete. Select Yes to install the updates.

Restart your computer once the installation is complete.

Furthermore, if QuickBooks does not respond or you receive an error message stating that it has stopped working, follow this article to get a fix of the issue: Download and install the QuickBooks Tool Hub.

If the issue persist, I recommend contacting our support team once again to further investigate the issue.

You can also check out this article to learn more about the frequently asked questions when downloading QuickBooks.

Visit us once again whenever you need assistance with your reports and taxes. I'm willing to lend a hand. Have a nice day.

@meder 

Consider to install the trial version for QBD 2020 to compare.

If I could get you to completely uninstall the crash and burn QBDT 2022 please. I want you to use this link to go and download the latest version of QuickBooks Desktop software with the "latest updates". Make sure you download both the QBDT software and "the latest updates patch". Click on the downloads to install and run them. After you have installed both downloads please reboot your computer. This will help the files and new stuff settle. Once you bring your system back up open QBDT. Please open a SAMPLE FILE FIRST to prevent any data damage incase of a crash. However I think you will be fine. After you have your sample file open, poke around a little bit and make sure it doesn't crash. After you see all is well please go ahead and open or restore a back up company, or open a company file. Follow the prompts to update the file to the newest version and this is it you are good to go.

Please make sure you have all of the updates. Not just the regular updates but the optional ones as well. You can find these by following the directions below.

Right Click on the windows icon &

Go to settings

• Windows Updates
• Check for updates
• Advanced
• Optional updates
• Check all of them.

If you need to install updates, please do this before you reinstall QuickBooks Desktop to your system. If not you are just setting yourself up for failure again. 

I am sorry to say, but QuickBooks' customer service is pathetic. As per your suggestion, I reached out to the  technical support team.

The guy on the chat told me that my QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2021 is outdated and he can't support me. Although he offered a solution to me to upgrade to QB 2022.

I then called the tech support instead of chatting with them. Person on call asked me to repeat same steps that I had already done. When QB still crashed, he said he will have to escalate the issue to experts. He then hung up on me. Now, I don't have a case number to follow-up. And I am afraid, if I call again, I will be wasting couple of hours going through the same diagnostic steps.....

Hi there, @yfegade. Thanks for letting us know how the call goes when contacting our Customer Care Team. 

I can see how this problem may have inconvenienced you a lot. I've already reached out to our team to check your case. Someone will take a look and may reach out to you if they have any questions.

If you still have more queries or concerns when using QuickBooks, you can visit the Community always. We're here to keep helping. Take care! 

It never fails that every time they update their software they create numerous problems like this instability.  Prior to the update which took place a few weeks ago I had no problems with QB 2020 crashing but since then every time I use it I have to keep my fingers crossed that I will be able to open it without it crashing immediately and if I am lucky then may be able to get some actual work done before it becomes unstable and crashes again. 

All the runaround from their technical support is just to hide the fact that this is the worst software, ever.  Always has been terrible, and unfortunately I am "married" to it because it has the past 15 years of my financial information in it.  They just want you to buy the newer version which will work well for a few months then they'll update it or call it no longer supported so you have to buy the next version.  So much wasted time and money I should go back to a ledger book.  I am sure they are working on a fix that will cure this but create other problems.  Just leave it alone when it works.

I think they're gearing up to spoil all of their "legacy" products and force you into their money-grab subscription model. Once they're out of support they'll be riddled with errors & problems that won't get fixed.

I just installed the latest R15 patch for QB 2020, and that's when the eventviewer gets hammered with Nudge errors. And this is after a complete Windows update on a brand new Windows 10 or 11 install. I uninstalled R15 and installed R4, I only saw about 4 errors when it runs. But I still had the update in que, so after a few runs it forced me to go back to the buggy R15.

I use a 2021 with a May 2022 update with about 5 errors after I run it. Now I'm scared to install any automatic updates in case I get hammered with any future bad ones.

I had the exact same issue on a client's computer. I tried a bunch of different fixes but this is what ended up working.

My client's company files were stored in c:\users\<username>\Documents\quickbooks.

I created a zipped copy of that folder just in case.

I then renamed it to OLDquickbooks and created a new quickbooks directory in the same location.

I then moved all the .QBW company files from OLDquickbooks to the new quickbooks directory.

Quickbooks stopped crashing after that.

It seems Quickbooks was having trouble opening some of the companion files it creates for each company file. (ex. .nd files).

I hope this helps someone...

Chava

Same issue on QB PRO DT 2020 - Win 10 Home

Happens on two different PCs where I manage 2 diff companies on each.

Just started happening two weeks ago?

Hi, lenval.

Have you tried out the steps above provided by ChavaNWCS? If so, but still getting the same issue, I'd suggest getting in touch with our QuickBooks Desktop Support.

All account-related concerns need to be directed to our phone support for security purposes. Unlike in this public forum, they have the tools required to perform any escalations or bypass the system whenever necessary on your behalf.

To ensure we address your concern on time, check out our support hours. Here's how to get in touch or chat with us:

1. Go to https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/contact.
   
2. Choose your QuickBooks Product.
3. Select your QuickBooks version.
4. Give a brief description of your issue and click Continue.
   
5. Then choose a way to connect.
   

Additionally, you'll want to consider visiting our Help Article for Account Management. This will provide you with links about managing your QuickBooks Desktop account, installation, and data settings.

Feel free to leave a comment below if there's anything else you need help with. The Community and I will always be around to provide additional assistance. Have a good one, lenval.

Just to give you guys an update:

Over all I must have spent 40 to 50 hours on my own and with QB support staff to get to the bottom of the issue. QB support staff did regular follow-up and was in touch with me almost every day to see if his suggestions worked or not. Since this was random crash, I had to use QB sometime to see if it would crash or not. He did good job. Much better than the last guy who said that QB Desktop Pro 2021 is out of support and he could not help me.

He basically repeat same steps I had already taken - repair my QuickBooks installation, uniinstall/reinstall, verify data, rebuild data, run QuickBooks Desktop File Doctor, run QuickBooks Tool Hub, etc.... Steps that I had already taken.

He also had me create new Windows login account on my computer and see if operating QB under that new login would solve the issue (it did not). He then had me install QB on another computer and see if that would help (it did not).

Then, finally he asked me to collect all kinds of logs and told me that there are other users also reporting this issue and QB technical team will evaluate the logs and update me.

Which leads to this question - if QB technical support team knew that there were others reporting this issue as well, then why make me go through all repair/reinstall steps, testing on different computer under different login account, etc.?

Because:

Quickbooks IS the worst!

I would bet that your QB will continue to crash.  The problem isn't with anything we can control.  If removing everything and reinstalling it doesn't fix it then it's obvious that there's a bug in the QB code that is causing random catastrophic failure.  Until they issue an update and fix what they broke during the update that caused this we'll just have to wait. 

In the mean time, I hope these crashes do not corrupt my QB data